Lights Out
by TV Manic 2
Summary: Dr Doom descends on the Baxter Building with his doombots, plunging the Fantastic Four in darkness as he takes his revenge...Johnnycentric :D


**Fantastic Four (Movieverse) – Lights Out**

**Summary:** Dr Doom descends on the Baxter Building with his doombots, plunging the Fantastic Four in darkness as he takes his revenge...Johnnycentric :D

**Disclaimer: **Oh yes, I own the Fantastic Four, in fact I created them mwahahaha...okay, maybe not...

**Authors Notes: **

I am very British and therefore know nothing about America and any places names or terminology used is taken entirely from my extensive TV knowledge

My first oneshot; it's a scene from a potential movie plotline I have in my head

Enjoy

* * *

**The Roof of the Baxter Building**

It was chaos. There was no other way to describe what was happening. The battle raged on top of the skyscraper, wind battering them as well as the army of doombots they faced. They had been taken by surprise and so the Fantastic Four were not wearing their skin-tight suits, but thankfully Reed had replaced their wardrobes with power proof clothes.

The Invisible Woman, Susan Storm, flickered in and out of visibility to keep the element of surprise as she lashed out with her force fields. She captured three of the shiny metal robots in a bubble of energy, lifted them over the edge of the roof and released them to fall the endless distance between them and the ground. Sue recognised the robots as being Dr. Dooms, her former fiancé, but had yet to see the metal man. A flash of flames brushed past her as her brother attacked a doombot who was about to hit her. She smiled at him and returned to the battle for their home.

Johnny flew around the roof in circles, watching the scene from above, taking out doombots whenever he saw the opportunity. He had been in the garage tending to his beloved car when he had been summoned to the roof. The note of emergency and fear in their leader's voice had made him move fast as he flew out and up. He had been the first to see the doombots as they leapt from a hovering craft onto the roof of his home. Immediately he had jumped into the fray, followed quickly by the rest of his family. Ben Grimm, the Thing, who was just beneath Johnny, smashed two doombots together with his enormous strength and threw the pieces away in disgust.

In his usual disgruntled mood, Ben charged through the sea of doombots, flinging them aside with ease. Occasionally the robots fired their useless weapons at him, but they only tickled. He smirked as he ripped the robots to shreds. His near-invulnerability gave him the chance to survey the scene. Suzie held her own against a swarm of doombots, repelling them with her force fields. The kid flew around their heads, helping but not getting in the way. Ben regretted what he had said earlier, knowing that the kid was hurting a lot more than he let on. The brainiac Reed, trapped the robots in his stretched limbs, crushing them before moving onto his next victims.

And then there was Alicia..._Alicia? _Ben panicked as he saw his vulnerable girlfriend stumble among the chaos. He had no idea how she had gotten onto the roof, or why she was there, but there she was...dangerously near the edge. He made two thundering steps towards her before the worse happened.

Circling overhead, Johnny spotted Alicia. She had come up onto the roof through the doors and her expression showed confusion. Johnny watched as Ben headed towards her. He saw the doombot before Ben did. He put on a burst of speed, but was too late.

"Alicia! Nooo!" shouted Ben in his gruff voice. The doombot shoved Alicia unceremoniously over the edge. Ben felt his stomach do a back flip as he witnessed his one true love fall to the depths.

"I got her Ben! Keep fighting!" yelled Johnny over his shoulder as he dived over the edge, his body engulfed in flames.

As the fireball disappeared along with Alicia, anger took over Ben Grimm. He tore through the doombot with his rocky hands, relishing the moment when the robot fell to pieces and tumbled to the floor.

-

The Human Torch propelled himself over the edge of the roof and soared downwards as fast he could. He saw Alicia falling helplessly only a few feet below him. Knowing if he caught her flamed on she would just burn, Johnny flew right past her. When he was a few floors below her, he flamed off and grabbed a window ledge.

Seconds later Alicia caught up with him and he caught one of her flailing arms. The sudden increase in wait almost made him lose his grip on the ledge, but he managed to hold on. Just. They dangled precariously about thirteen floors above the ground. Alicia looked up at him with unseeing eyes, placing her trust entirely in him.

"I got you, its okay," Johnny said reassuringly, already feeling his muscles ache from exertion. He hadn't completely thought through his plan and so he improvised. He pulled Alicia upwards so that she could climb up onto the ledge, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge. Straining slightly, Johnny dragged himself up as well. "Hey, I'm gonna smash this window, and then your gonna climb through, cover your face."

"How high up are we?" asked Alicia. She felt around her, and shuffled away from Johnny, allowing him space to smash the glass.

Johnny looked down, thankful that he wasn't afraid of heights, and then shrugged at Alicia, even though she couldn't see. In a careless tone so as not scare the woman he replied "not that high."

"Good, I'm not great with heights," Alicia murmured. Johnny momentarily wondered how a blind person could be afraid of heights before he took of his jacket and wrapped it around his hand. He broke the window pretty easily, then cleared some of the glass out the way so Alicia wouldn't cut herself.

"There we go," Johnny found the room to be an empty apartment, and then guided Alicia through. He could hear the battle on the roof even from down there, and he itched to get back up and help. He activated his communicator. "Ben, Alicia's okay, I caught her. She's safe."

"_Thank God." _Ben's voice crackled over the earpiece. _"Thanks Kid, good job." _

The communication ended with a click, and Johnny allowed himself a moment of pride. He was still perched on the window ledge, and was just about to take off and return to the battle when a flash of familiar blue light just missed him. "Alicia! Get down and stay away from the windows!"

Johnny let himself drop of the ledge and fall a few feet before he yelled "Flame On!" Immediately the warm rush of flames covered him as he propelled himself up to meet Dr. Doom himself.

"Nice one hero," smirked Doom. Well, Johnny thought he was smirking, he couldn't tell with the metal mask blocking his expression. "Saving the blind girl from a horrific drop? Daddy would be proud."

A surge of rage filled Johnny as he let loose the fire from his hands. The meagre flames had little effect on Doom who instantly retaliated with a bolt of electricity. The hit threw Johnny backwards as pain throbbed through his shoulder. He retorted with an onslaught of flames which resulted in another shock. This one was stronger though. Johnny felt the jolting electricity course through his entire body, sending spasms of agony along his nerves. He dropped in altitude as he struggled to keep his flames around him. He couldn't muster another attack in time before Doom struck him again with enough force to send him plummeting to the ground.

Consciousness left him for all of five seconds. When he opened his eyes Doom stood over him, bearing down with his expressionless mask. Johnny tried to gather the strength to defend himself, but Doom just jolted him again. "Give it up Johnny." Doom sneered, a glint of glee in his eyes. "You're weak, useless, and you're always in the way. Holding the team back with your foolish attitude."

That hurt Johnny more than the electricity had.

* * *

_**Baxter Building, Reed's Lab**_

_**Earlier that Day**_

_The Fantastic Four returned less than victorious to their home. The mission had been to save the tenants of a burning apartment building, something Johnny was usually good at. He had gone in without listening to Reed, almost gotten himself killed, almost gotten some kids killed. _

_Ben Grimm turned on Johnny the moment they entered the lab. Anger was etched on his stone face as stared the Human Torch down. "What were you thinking kid? That was stupid!"_

"_I didn't mean to- I wasn't thinking-" Johnny tried to interrupt._

"_Too right you weren't thinking," Sue joined in. She gave Johnny a patented 'annoyed sister glare'. "There was a plan Johnny, and the plan would've worked. The building was weak, Ben was gonna hold up the supports, but you got in the way!"_

"_You're always in the way kid, you gotta cool it," Ben murmured coldly. Although Ben had only spoken, Johnny felt as if he had punched him in the gut. He knew he had made a mistake, but, well. There were no buts. They were right. _

_Reed stepped forward calmly. "Johnny, you have got to stop rushing in foolishly without listening to us. We can't help people if we can't work as a team. You're holding us back every time you do something like this."_

_Silenced by the truth of their words, Johnny left the lab feeling their disapproving eyes follow him._

* * *

And now he stared into the eyes of his enemy who repeated what his family had said. For the first time in a long time, Johnny felt truly useless and weak. He felt broken. He lost the will to fight off Doom, almost wishing that he'd just end everyone's suffering by ending him.

Doom smiled behind his mask as he saw the fight leave the young man's eyes. Satisfaction filled him as his plan slid into place. First to break his spirit, then to just break him. He dragged the boy to his feet and pinned him against the wall, pressing an arm across his shoulders. There was little struggle between them now, Doom held all the power. With his free hand he reached into his cloak and pulled out a sharp silver blade.

Johnny saw Doom reveal the knife and tried to escape his grip. But he was so tired. His body was aching from the shocks and he felt so drained. There was nothing he could do as Doom plunged the blade deep into his abdomen, just below his ribs. For an instant there was no feeling, but then the knife was twisted and pain bloomed in his gut. Johnny let out the smallest groan before clamping his scream down. He was down, but he wouldn't give Doom the satisfaction.

A smile licked across Doom's lips, Johnny could see it in his eyes, as the blade was slowly slid out of the wound. Blood trickled from the hole, staining his shirt dark red. "It's a slow bleeder, don't worry. I want Susan to find you alive. I've got a message.

"One Down, Three to go."

* * *

**The Roof**

Susan Storm felt an instant of pain in her gut which made her drop her shield. Something wasn't right. She blinked around to investigate if she had been hit without her knowledge, but she appeared unharmed. She couldn't shake the ominous feeling that filled her though.

"Suzie! On your left!" shouted Ben. Instinctively, Sue created a force field and repelled the sneak attack. Five doombots were pushed off the roof.

But they just kept coming. Wave after wave kept appearing. Just when they thought they had made some progress, another swarm would emerge and cause havoc. Sue knew they wouldn't be able to hold them back forever. They needed something that would stop them, and stop them now.

Reed was thinking the same thing. The more he kept stretching to capture and crush the bots, the harder it was becoming to return to his normal shape. He felt like an over stretched elastic band; that at any moment he would snap. He thought over all the inventions he had in his lab. What out of all of them would be useful? He had a portal to the negative zone, the storm chamber, and..and...

An EMP.

If he hadn't have been in the middle of a warzone he would have kicked himself. He had an Electromagnetic Pulse. It would fry all their circuits and probably blow every fuse in a ten block radius. Why hadn't he thought of it before? "Susan! Ben! I need to get down to the lab! Can you guys hold them?"

Ben smashed a couple of doombots to smithereens. "No problem."

Another wave of doombots filled the roof. More than had ever appeared before. Immediately the battle became harder. The three were surrounded by the mechanical monsters and outnumbered by about 100 to 3.

"Maybe a little problem." Ben conceded as he observed the new challenge. He dived fist first into the battle, refusing to admit he was beginning to tire. He was made of rock and stone and he would never stop until every one of these robots was scrap metal.

Susan made a huge wall out of a force field so that she and Reed were temporarily divided from the mass of metal. "What's the plan Reed?"

"In the lab, I've got an EMP, it will make them all useless," explained Reed quickly. It had taken a lot for him to not describe in acute detail the inner workings of the pulse and its effect on the doombots, but time was of the essence. "There's too many bots for the two of you, I can't leave."

Susan smiled reassuringly and engaged her communicator. "Johnny? We need you."

"_What can I do?" _replied Johnny. He sounded quiet and distant to Sue, but she assumed it was just the connection. The feeling of not-rightness filled her for a moment, but she ignored it.

"In Reed's lab is an EMP, we need you to set it off and fry these dumb bots. Think you can do it?"

A second of silence came over the line. Reed, who had been over hearing interrupted. "I can guide you over the communicator. Just tell me when you're there and we'll finish this."

"_You got it. Give me five minutes." _Johnny sounded more confident this time which seemed to settle Susan's instincts. But she couldn't help but notice that her brother had asked for five minutes. It wouldn't usually take him five minutes to get to the top of the building...more like 30 seconds.

* * *

They needed him. He couldn't just lie slumped against the wall while they fought for their lives and their home without him. Johnny considered his task. He had to get up to the top floor of the building, into Reed's lab and set of an EMP. He pulled his hand away from his wound and watched the blood for a millisecond. Doom had said it was a slow bleeder. He could make it.

Gritting his teeth to stop him yelling out in pain he pushed himself into a standing position, using the wall for support. The world swayed for a second as the effects of blood loss made his vision blurry. He pushed his hand firmly over the wound to try and stop the bleeding and set off. He had given himself a deadline of five minutes, he had already lost a minute.

He found the side entrance to the Baxter Building and managed to open the door. He left a trail of bloody handprints over the handle and frame. He made his way through the ground floor of the building until he crossed into the entrance hall. The building was empty due to an emergency evacuation that Reed had ordered when the attack had begun. The elevator was only a few yards away, but already Johnny's feet felt like lead as he struggled to walk.

He could no longer distinguish between the burning pain of the knife wound and the aches of the shocks as they had melded into one white hot pain than filled his entire body. He stumbled to the elevator and jabbed the button. He waited with his back against the wall, desperately fighting the blissful darkness that beckoned.

Finally the doors dinged open and Johnny stumbled in. He found the button for the top floor, a difficult task when his vision consisted of blurred shapes and outlines. The doors closed behind him and he was whizzed up to the top of the building.

Only two minutes left.

* * *

On the roof the battle raged harder than ever. The three superheroes were beginning to tire and their counter attacks on the swarm were become weaker and less effective. It was not looking good for the Baxter Building.

The glass symbol on the roof was smashed under the doombots feet. The sound of the crunching pieces was like the sound of their team shattering. The three were backed up against the edge of the roof. It was the only space that wasn't occupied by the robots that surrounded them with weapons trained.

Susan desperately tried to hold them back with a force field, but the strain was taking its toll. Blood began to trickle from her nose as her hold over her powers slipped. Reed stood reassuringly behind his wife feeling helpless as she held back the swarm. "Where the hell is Johnny?" he cried in frustration.

Blinking tiredly, Sue looked up at her teammates. Her head hurt from holding up the shield and she could feel it draining her. "I'm s-sorry...I c-c-can't hold it..." The shield dropped as Sue collapsed against Reed in exhaustion. Every single robot took a step towards them, prepared to wipe them out.

But then stopped.

A whirring noise erupted from every one of them. Then they all slumped dejectedly. The lights of the surrounding buildings and streetlamps all flickered out of life. A final blip sounded over the Fantastic Four's communicators as they were all switched off.

Susan smiled with pride for her little brother. She knew he had done it. He had saved them. A small amount of strength returned to her muscles and she managed to stand by herself. "I'm gonna go see Johnny."

"Okay, Ben, we gotta destroy these guys, everything will reset in about five minutes." Susan left the pair on the roof to smash through the remaining doombots as she climbed down the steps and into the Baxter Building.

* * *

Johnny smiled to himself. He wasn't as stupid as everyone thought. He had gained enough qualifications to become a pilot for NASA, so why everyone thought he was an idiot was beyond him. Besides, the EMP was pretty simple to operate, he didn't need Reed to guide him through it.

His celebration was short lived though when he remembered his injury. It had gotten decidedly worse since Doom had stabbed him. All his movement had forced him to bleed out faster than anticipated. Johnny stood up to leave the lab; part of him wanted to gloat to Sue that he had done something right, but he immediately collapsed to the floor.

He landed hard on his thankfully uninjured side. He tried to break his fall, but he managed to hit his head anyway. The wooziness from the blood loss doubled as his vision lit up with brightly coloured dots and lines. He had a single moment of consciousness left. He could just make out a blonde woman rushing towards him, but her voice seemed so far away. The blessed darkness filled his vision as he fell into the depths of darkness.

Lights out.

* * *

Wehey! What do you think? I've had this idea in my head for ages and I thought I'd give it a go, please review :D.

I'm thinking of writing the whole thing out a multi-chapter fanfic, should I?

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I don't have a Beta...I rely entirely on spell check :D

* * *

Just to let you know that I have begun the multi-chapter fic...It's called 'Retribution' and chapter one is up! Please Read and Review :D


End file.
